Is Social Justice The Modern Sacrament?
Importing this hotly contested question into the blog, I wanted to open the debate up to a wider audience. So this was the debate du jour – in the pecking order which is more important: social justice or evangelism? Now it would seem politically (and theologically) correct especially in post-modern circles to say “both are equally important”. The pushback however came from one of my profs Hans Boersma who contends that social justice, while important, is only a means to the end, i.e., salvation, and not an end in itself. He used the comparison, “what is more important; bread that feeds the stomach or bread that gives eternal life?” reflecting his strong sacramental orientation; as such can we say that social justice stands alone as sacramental act? Is it a greater thing, or on par with, or less than, social justice?
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This question has been on my mind (and heart) for quite some time and unfortunately just goes spinning around and around with lots of ‘but, but, but’ interspersed and not much in the way of concrete answers. Looking forward to reading any dialogue on the subject.